And now a bubble bursts, and now a world.CHAPTER XXXII.
And now a bubble bursts, and now a world.
And now a bubble bursts, and now a world.
And now a bubble bursts, and now a world.
And now a bubble bursts, and now a world.
Detached from every other part of the Recollections, the following anecdote appears by itself, and as it seems to have been communicated from the very highest authority, may be recorded more particularly, as its authenticity may be easily ascertained.
In the year 1720, celebrated for the bursting of the South Sea bubble, a gentleman called late in the evening at the banking-house of Messrs. Hankies and Co. He was in a coach, but refused to get out, and desired that one of the partners of the house would come to him. Having ascertained that it was really one of the principals, and not a clerk, who appeared, he put into his hands a parcel, very carefully sealed up and protected, and desired that it might be laid on one side till he should call again, which would be in the course of a very few days.A few days passed away—a few weeks did the same, and indeed some months also, but the stranger returned no more.
At the end of the second or third year, the partners agreed to open this mysterious parcel in the presence of each other. They found it to contain thirty thousand pounds, with a letter, stating that it was obtained by the South Sea speculation, and directing that it should now be vested in the hands of three trustees, whose names were given, and the interest appropriated to the relief of the poor.
What particular class of poor—whether the poor of London, or of Westminster, or the poor sufferers by the bubble, was not specified, and the vagueness of the instructions rendered the matter extremely perplexing. Under this difficulty, the partners or the trustees very properly applied to the Lord Mayor, and to the law officers of the crown. If we are correct, Sir Dudley Ryder was Attorney-General at the time. It was agreed, that the capital should be vested in the names of the Lord Mayor, Recorder, and Attorney-General, for the time being and to come, and that each of the three gentlemen nominated by the stranger as trustees, should have the interest of ten thousand pounds, to be distributed at his discretion for the use of the poor. The stranger was never heard ofafterwards.
One of the trustees was a gentleman of Norfolk, whose family was well known to the Sexagenarian. During his life, he had a room fitted up with cases, shelves, drawers, &c. which was called the Poors’ Room, and where coats, waistcoats, shirts, shifts, shoes, blankets, &c. were deposited for the use of proper applicants. The effect of this for the time, was the total annihilation of the poor rates in the particular parish where this trustee resided.